How Pittsburgh Shot to the Top of a “Most Livable Cities” List
Pittsburgh has weathered the economic ups and downs well. And although it is largely ignored as what most would consider a “great American city,“ Pittsburgh was recently ranked as the most livable city in the U.S and 29th in the world by The Economist.
Now is a particularly exciting time for the Steel City. Finally finding its spot on the map, Pittsburgh will be playing host to three very important national and international events: Netroots Nation, the AFL-CIO conference and the G-20 Summit.
Last Tuesday, a conference featuring Senator Bob Casey, D-PA; Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future and Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, featured discussion about why Pittsburgh is receiving so much buzz lately and how the city can continue to be a model for other American cities.
Borosage, who worked recently with The Campaign for America’s Future to release a report entitled “Pittsburgh: The Rest of the Story” cited Pittsburgh as a city that “understands and supports the sustainable sector.” While many cities are considered to be of either the industrial economy or the creative economy, Pittsburgh, it seems, has found a way to keep its industrial roots intact while moving on to high technology, such as robotics and nuclear engineering.
In reference to the “Making It in America” Pittsburgh report, Sen. Bob Casey said that it told “not just Pittsburgh story, but the American story.” Having worked in Pennsylvania politics for over a decade, he has witnessed first-hand some of the issues that Pittsburgh has faced and still struggles with today. He said that the city has made great strides due to its “real foundation.”
“As people look in amazement at the rebirth of Pittsburgh, many are surprised that there are still manufacturing jobs.” commented Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers. Just as the report points out, manufacturing matters. The United States is importing $840 billion more goods than it exports. The Allegheny Conference, which included the Pittsburgh mayor, the county commissioner and the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, made some surprising decisions for a city on the edge of modernism. Instead of doing away with the steel industry, they reworked it. “A million and a half dollars went in to develop and modernize the steel mills.” said Gerard. “There is no rust. It’s a very high tech, almost space-like facility.”
While manufacturing plants are largely associated with being wasteful and harmful to the environment, Pittsburgh has worked to turn that stereotype upside down as one of the country’s leaders in the manufacturing of green building products. Pittsburgh also boasts the rank of 8th in the U.S. for most LEED certified buildings, included their David L. Lawrence Convention Center - the first of its kind in North America.
Still, what the report and conference participants stressed is “The Rest of the Story.” Pittsburgh is well-deserving of the praise it receives, but it must be recognized that the city is only “halfway to a success story.” There are many more jobs to be created and something is still to be done about the dwindling population. The more important lesson to be learned by Pittsburgh is that an “invisible hand didn’t save Pittsburgh….Planning did.”
PLANPGH: What It Means for Pittsburgh
Winners of the “Best Chain on Main” Announced
When is “Rightsizing” Wrong?
Ivan in Cambridge on Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 8:36am
The g-20 Summit is really a deserved prize but it’s still a weird place for living.The pros are very clear…beautiful and big houses for a bargain,the oakland area with the 1st class universities,it’s really close to New York and Toronto (which is really exciting) .... but the reality is very dark….the buildings,if you r gonna live in an apartment,are old and dirty,the downtown is empty (like the rest of the American cities) making you feel you r living in terror movie…. so the nightlife is limited to the interior of the theaters and few bars…. I guess the “Queer as Folk” series should have been really been filmed in Pittsburgh to attract loads of new people…. it would have worked…If Pittsburgh really can t attract urban european business starters it will always be an impossible place for living… is the steel thing really as important as you tell…? Why not thinking in putting the students in the city centre….?Any one would love setting up a corporation in there if it was full of people!!!
Ryan on Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 2:53pm
While I would say your comment about the lack of nightlife and older living spaces was accurate 10, or even 5, years ago, I have to disagree with it in the current context. Downtown Pittsburgh has actually become quite vibrant in the last few years, and there are scores of new high-end condos and apartments popping up in and around the Golden Triangle. Any given weekend night, and most weeknights, the Cultural District and Penn and Liberty Ave. corridors are buzzing with young professionals, theatre-goers, sports fans, and just about every other type of person you can imagine. If that’s not enough for you, a short walk across the Smithfield St. Bridge puts you in the South Side, which is by some measures the world’s longest stretch of bars and restaurants. Or, you can venture over to the North Shore and enjoy the stadiums, bars, restaurants, museums, and brand-new $800 million casino.
I’ve been all over the U.S., and I can honestly say that I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the country that offers so much to see in do all within walking distance.